Seminario CEDE - Camilo Antonio Arias

One of the channels through which wars affect development is that they have negative consequences on the health of the people from the moment they are in uterus. This study presents evidence of the consequences of the end of armed conflict, based on the analysis of a natural experiment, presented in Colombia, and generated by the end of the conflict between the National Government and the guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-FARC. Using the administrative records of more than 5 million births between 2011 and 2018, and differences in differences model specifications, evidence is found that the end of conflict increased the probability of very low weight births because, in the absence of conflict, the birth of fetuses with lower health dotation were possible. Evidence is found that this consequences occurs with greater intensity in the municipalities in which the ceasefire was accompanied by the intention to improve the institutional presence and, furthermore, that is related to the fact that end of conflict reinforced the probabilities that deliveries are attended in health institutions and by medical personnel.